Daily Bread

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

When you read this passage from Mark's gospel, do you wonder how anyone could be asleep in a boat during a storm? Me too! Yet, here was Jesus taking a nap. To be fair, he was probably exhausted. We know that Jesus had been preaching to crowds and that people followed him everywhere he went. Ministry, for Jesus, was relentless. He no doubt also had a deep sense of peace and security in his heavenly Father and his trust was firmly placed in God's hands. This trust can be summed up in the prayer he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, another stressful occasion, "Yet not my will but yours."

Once the wind and waves were rebuked, Jesus asked his disciples a rhetorical question, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" The faith he was asking his disciples to have was not a faith that could still the winds and waves, but a faith that trusted 100% in God's provision.

In one of the Anglican 'affirmations of faith' the priest asks the congregation, "Do you believe and trust in God?" to which the congregation replies, "We believe and trust in him." Perhaps it is easy to answer when the lake is calm and the winds are light, but not so easy when there is a great gale and we are being swamped. Yes, faith is a gift, but it is also a choice. When the storms of life come (and they will come) I just hope and pray that — as we do our best to stand against the wind and waves — we will be able to say, "Lord, I believe and trust in you, and I will not be afraid."

Holy God
When the storms of life threaten to overwhelm me,
may I trust in your steadfast and unfailing love.
Give me strength to stand when the winds batter me,
and the waves crash over me.
Give me peace that I am in your hands,
and the assurance that you will never leave me nor forsake me.
Yet not my will but yours,
through Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour
Amen